Posted!

Join the Conversation

New Yorkers push for charges in police chokehold death

Natalie DiBlasio, USA TODAY
12:52 p.m. MST August 2, 2014

A young boy stops as he passes a makeshift memorial for Eric Garner, Friday, Aug. 1, 2014, in the Staten Island borough of New York. Garner was put in a chokehold while being arrested at the site last month for selling untaxed loose cigarettes. On Friday, the medical examiner ruled Garner's death to be a homicide caused by a police chokehold.(Photo: AP)

Officer Daniel Pantaleo and another officer tried to arrest Eric Garner, a 6-foot-3, 350-pound father of six, for selling untaxed cigarettes on a Staten Island street July 17.

Video shot by a passer-by showed Pantaleo, an eight-year NYPD veteran, grabbing Garner, 43, around the neck as he and his partner wrestled him to the ground. Police rules forbid chokeholds. Garner was transported to a medical center, where he was pronounced dead.

Medical examiner spokeswoman Julie Bolcer said Friday that Garner died from "the compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police." Asthma and heart disease contributed to his death, she said.

Ramsey Orta, a friend of Garner's who videotaped his struggle with police, said the medical examiner's ruling wasn't surprising.

"I knew that was the cause because I saw it," he said. "Now somebody should get charged."

Garner's family will be joined by the Rev. Al Sharpton to address the medical examiner's ruling Saturday.

The medical examiner's finding increases the likelihood the case will be presented to a grand jury to determine whether Pantaleo or any other officers involved in the confrontation will face criminal charges.

A spokesman for Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan said prosecutors were still investigating the death and awaited a full autopsy report and death certificate from the medical examiner. Donovan will have to determine whether to impanel a grand jury and charge officers in Garner's death.

Pantaleo's attorney, Stuart London, declined to comment. Pantaleo was stripped of his gun and badge pending the investigation, and another officer was placed on desk duty. Two paramedics and two emergency medical technicians were suspended without pay for not responding to Garner's need for medical attention.